Shoe-fastener.



L. H. HEATH.

' SHOE FASTENBR. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25,19 0.

991,443. Patented May 2,1911.

LINDSAY H. HEATH, OF WAL'IHAJVI, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHOE-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2, 1911.

Application filed May 25, 1910. Serial No. 563,424.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LINDSAY H. HEATH, a citizen of the United States, residing at VValtha-m, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, hath invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Shoe- Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fastening devices for shoes, and particularly to those fastening devices which are adapted to be used for laced shoes, the object of the invention being to provide a fastening device through which the lace shall not be required to be threaded, wherein there shall be no open hooks or like projecting portions to catch on and tear the clothes, and wherein the lace-engaging hook is normally positioned flat against the shoe but automatically turns up into position to receive the lace as the lace is being engaged therewith, and then when the lace is tightened is drawn into a position where it is parallel with the face of the leather.

In the drawings I have shown two forms of my invention wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe provided with my improved fastening devices. Fig. 2 is a detail view of a portion of the upper of the shoe showing the fastening devices applied thereto, the fasteners being in the position taken by them when the shoe is laced. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the fastening devices detached, the view being on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a front view of the shoe upper showing a modified form of fastening device applied thereto.

Referring to these figures 2 designates the upper of a shoe and 3 a plurality of hooks disposed on opposite sides of the middle opening of the shoe. Each'of these hooks consists of a relatively wide shank 4 forming a hinged support for the hook, and a hook portion proper formed by bending the wire from which the fastening device is made, outward from the shank at substantially a right angle thereto as at 5, then bending it toward the shank as at 6, and then bending it inward as at 7 thus forming what may be termed a closed hook inasmuch as there is no projecting end to the wire which will hook into the clothing or act to fray the same. The inwardly bent end 7 is spaced from the shank 4 a sufficient distance to permit the easy insertion of a lace. As shown in Fig. 4 the relatively wide shank 4 is formed by returning the wire from which the fastener is made upon itself as at 8, the plane of this bend or fold formed by the portions 4 and 8 being at right angles to the plane of the hook portion of the fastener. The shank 4 is used for the purpose of attaching the fastener to the leather of the shoe as by the stitches 9, and it will be seen that if the shank is at tached in this manner, (the stitches passing merely over the wire 4 and not over the wire 8) the fastening device will be pivotally mounted so as to be capable of being turned up to a position at right angles with the face of the leather, or turned down so as to bring the hooked portion parallel with the face of the leather, in which last position the return bend 8 will be raised above the face of the leather. This return bend 8, or rather the fact that the shank or base is relatively wide, is the means whereby the fastening device is automatically raised into position to receive the lace when the shoe is being laced up. As the lace is being inserted in the opening in the space between the end 7 and the shank, the lace will bear against the portion 8 of the wire and act to turn the fastening device as upon a pivot or hinge, forcing down the wire 8 against the face of the leather and raising the hooked portion into a position at right angles to the leather, whereupon the lace may be easily inserted. After the lace is inserted and the laces are pulled tight, the strain upon the fastening devices will draw the fastening hooks over upon the face of the leather and hold them parallel to the face of the leather so that there will be no projecting port-ions which would be likely to engage'the skirts or trousers of the wearer.

In Fig. 5 I show another form of the invention which operates on precisely the same principle previously described, but wherein the fastener is made of a strip of metal, said strip at one end being relatively wide. The wide end of this strip forms the shank 10, while the narrow portion of the strip forms the hook 11. In this form of the invention the hook is not bent inward upon itself to form-a termination which extends parallel to the shank 10. In order to fasten this modified form of hook to the shoe I form the shank with a slot 12. It can be attached to the shoe in any suitable manner as by threads passing through the eye or slot leather, or parallel to the face 'of the leather,

is suflicient for my purpose.

The operation of my invention is obvious. The shoe string is placed across the wide shank of the fastener 3 and then by holding the shoe string taut and pressing it against the relatively wide shank 4% the hooked portion will rise up into the position described, whereupon the lace may be easily inserted within the hook, using the same motion as in hooking the lace over an ordinary hook.

It will be seen that by the use of my invention shoe-lace eyes are entirely done away with, and there is no necessity for the shoelace to be provided with a tip. There is nothing in my improved fastening device which will be liable to tear clothing, and consequently the fastening device may be used both on shoes for men or women. It is particularly adapted for quick lacing, and furthermore, by reason of the fact that the hook turns into proper position to engage the lace and then lies fiat, there will be comparatively little wear on the lace. lVhile I have shown my lace-engaging devices as be ing applied to a shoe, I wish it understood that they might be applied to any other article of apparel wherein a lace is used to lace up two separated parts.

I do not wish to limit myself to the exact details of construction, nor the exact form of the fastening device shown, as it is obvious that it might be modified in many ways.

What I claim is:

1. An article of apparel having a lace engaging device therefor, comprising a hook-shaped body hingedly attached to the article of apparel and having a portion at the base of the hooked-shaped body projecting out at an angle to the general plane of the body and adapted to be engaged by the lace when the lace is initially inserted to turn the hook-shaped body into a position at right angles to the article of apparel.

2. An article of apparel having a laceengaging device therefor, comprising a hook-shaped body hingedly attached to the article of apparel and having a shank extending at right angles to the hook-shaped body, the plane of said shank extending at an angle to the general plane of the body, the edge of the shank being adapted to be engaged by the lace when the lace is initially inserted to turn the hook-shaped body at right angles to the article of apparel. I

3. An article of apparel having a lace-engaging device thereon, comprising a hookshaped body and a shank extending at right angles to the body, means for attaching the shank to the article of apparel to permit the shank to be rotated and the hook to be raised to a position at right angles with the surface of the article of apparel, the shank being wider than the hook in a plane at right angles to the plane of the body portion and being thereby adapted to be engaged by the lace when the lace is initially inserted to turn the hook-shaped body at right angles to the article of apparel.

4. As an article of manufacture, a lace-engaging device, comprising a hook-shaped body portion formed with a shank extending at right angles to the base of the hookshaped body and adapted to be hingedly attached to an article of apparel, the shank being wider than the hook-shaped body in a plane at right angles to the hook-shaped body and adapted to extend outward beyond the plane of the hook-shaped body when the hook is lying fiat against the face of the article of apparel to which it is attached.

5. A laceengaging device for articles of apparel, comprising a relatively wide shank, one end of the shank being bent outward at right angles to the shank and then inward toward the shank to form a hook-shaped body portion, said hook-shaped body portion being thinner than the width of the shank, said shank being adapted to be attached to the article of apparel so that it may turn to bring the hook into a position at right angles to the face of the article of apparel.

6. A lace-engaging device for articles of apparel, comprising a shank, one end of the shank being extended out at right angles and then returned upon itself to form a hookshaped body, the shank being wider than the thickness of the hook-shaped body in a plane at right angles to the plane of said body. said shank being formed with a longitudinally extending slit to provide means where Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

